SOFIA
Bulgaria plans a gas pipeline connection to Turkey in order to diversify its natural gas resources.
An announcement by the Bulgarian authorities in Turkey’s capital Ankara said that a group of experts with the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy and Energy will soon negotiate a gas pipeline connection between the two countries.
Bulgarian ministry officials announced their full support on the project and urged for a swift timetable for the undertaking of the project.
The planned pipeline between Bulgaria and Turkey will be approximately 114 kilometers in length and is due to be completed in two years.
Bulgaria currently receives 90 percent of gas from Russia, and Bulgaria worries that the recent events in Ukraine may disrupt the flow of gas through the pipelines.
Last month Bulgarian Economy and Energy Minister Dragomir Stoynev and Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz announced that the planned pipeline would play an important role in the diversification of gas supplies.
Russia currently supplies 25 percent of Europe's gas imports, and many European countries rely almost entirely on Moscow for their imported gas.
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